A dog owner is refusing to have her pet put down – even after it savaged her three times.

One of the bullmastiff’s attacks left Angela Fielder needing emergency surgery to save her hand. Another mauling caused wounds to her face, ear and arm that required more than 60 stitches.

Despite her injuries, the 39-year-old insists she will not get rid of her 10st dog Boris and will not even make him wear a muzzle.

Mauling: Boris the bullmastiff, left with his owner, mauled Angela Fielder three times but she insists she will not put him down - or even make him wear a muzzle. Right, a scar on Mrs Fielder's hand after one of the attacks

Scarred: Angela Fielder needed more than 40 stitches to her arm, pictured, after the 10st dog launched at her

A dog's life: Boris lives in Wallsend, North Tyneside, with Mrs Fielder and her gas fitter husband Rob, 39

‘The bites were my fault,’ said Mrs Fielder, who describes six-year-old Boris as her baby. ‘He lashed out because I was telling off our other dog, Wallis. She is his daughter and he was simply being protective. After the attacks he showed genuine signs of regret, cuddling up to me.’

Mrs Fielder added: ‘Many people might have had Boris put to sleep. You wouldn’t put a child down just because it lashed out in temper. So why do people think differently about a dog?’

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She and her gas fitter husband Rob, 39, who have no children, bought Boris as a puppy. He was no trouble until last February when Wallis – Boris’s pup by a friend’s bullmastiff – came to live at their house in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

As Mrs Fielder told Wallis off for chewing the vinyl floor in the kitchen, Boris lunged at her and sank his teeth into her forearm. She was treated at hospital but left to be with her dog.

'Doctors wanted to keep me in,' she said. 'But I went home because I knew Boris would be like a frightened child worrying where mummy had gone – and he was full of remorse.

Man's best friend? Though he looks placid, Boris flipped out when he was told off for chewing the kitchen floor

Relaxed: Mrs Fielder raised Boris from when he was a puppy, and said she had no problems until recently

‘Back home Boris was sorry. I could see from his eyes he was upset.’

But two weeks later Boris
attacked again. Mrs Fielder believes Boris thought she was about to tell
Wallis off again.

Angela Fielder: 'The left side of my face was also slashed open'

‘I turned round to see him flying through the air at me. I raised my left arm to defend myself. It was only when I saw blood pouring from my arm I realised I’d been bitten and my left earlobe had almost been severed.

'The left side of my face was also slashed open.’

She had 24 stitches to her face and more than 40 to her arm. The couple discussed having Boris put down but Mr Fielder said: ‘Although I was so upset about what Boris did to Angela, neither of us could do it.’

In September, Boris attacked Mrs Fielder again and she needed surgery to save the movement in her left hand.

But she claimed: ‘Boris isn’t aggressive – he was just overprotective. We’ve now solved this by ensuring he’s always behind a gate if I have to tell Wallis off.’

She added: '‘As soon as I saw Boris I fell in love with him.‘Just a glance at me with those big soulful eyes he has always makes me melt. He’s like a child to me – my baby, especially as despite trying for ten years, Rob and I have been unable to conceive.'

Mrs Fielder insists Boris is no danger to the public. ‘I don’t muzzle him because he’s never gone for anyone else. One woman who asked about my scars said she couldn’t understand why Boris was still alive. But most people say what a lovely, soppy dog he is.’